Groping Complaints Unheard, Women Say
Tampa Tribune
Groping Complaints Unheard, Women Say
Jul 24, 2005
By LENNY SAVINO
TAMPA - Retired from the University of South Floridas Psychiatric Center, Anthony John Reading is memorialized by a portrait that hangs outside his former second-floor office.
With his signature multicolored bow tie, bushy mustache and white lab coat, Reading opened the center in 1987. For 27 years, he was the psychiatry departments chairman and a professor in the medical school.
Former colleagues say Reading, an Australian who was recruited from Johns Hopkins Medical School, was a leader in the movement to destigmatize mental health treatment.
His place in USF history may be in jeopardy, however.
Two former patients are accusing him of groping them as he neared retirement in 2003.
The patients and their lawyers say the Florida Department of Health took months to respond to the complaints, and when it did, Reading wasnt charged with any wrongdoing. He has not been charged.
Patient Tina Logan complained to Tampa police in 2003. They notified the health department and referred the case to the Hillsborough County State Attorneys Office, which declined to prosecute. She filed a lawsuit against the university in 2004, attorney Tony Cunningham said.
Patient Gail Blanco says she reported Reading to a replacement therapist at the university in early 2004. The therapist told her he had to report her complaint to the health department, but Blancos attorney, Ralph Fernandez, says Blanco never heard from the department. Last month, Blanco said, she filed a complaint against Reading with the agency. Last week, Fernandez sent a letter of complaint to the state attorneys office. He said he also plans a civil suit against the university.
Reading, 71 and married with two grown children, denies wrongdoing.
``The allegations are not true, he said in a telephone interview from Panama City, Fla., where he moved after his retirement and set up a practice. ``The only proper way to handle this is through the court. I have no comment.
Readings attorney says neither woman can prove the allegations.
``My investigation has determined that there is absolutely no other evidence of any kind to support these allegations other than the mere uncorroborated word of each woman, attorney John Fitzgibbons said.
``One woman has filed a lawsuit seeking a great deal of money. And the other woman is preparing to do the same. So, obviously, each is hoping for a big payday. It sounds like this is all about money.
The Tampa detective who investigated Logans complaint says she checked to see whether Reading had any complaints with the health department and was told he did not.
In an e-mail, USF spokesman Michael Hoad said ``if there were complaints [against Reading], they were referred to the Board of Medicine [part of the health department]. But I cant confirm or verify how many - and I dont know. He added that USFs general counsel, R.B. Friedlander, ``believes we cant discuss investigations.
Readings accusers are in their 30s and have not met, they say.
Both came to Reading seeking help for severe depression and anxiety.
Both accuse Reading of fondling them during hugs, usually at the close of counseling sessions.
Logan says Reading fondled her during two office visits in early 2003. Fondling is a misdemeanor battery according to Florida law, punishable by up to one year in prison.
``He was my psychiatrist, Logan said. ``I trusted him.
Blanco alleges Reading restrained her by bearhugging and fondling her several times during visits in 2002 and 2003, according to Fernandez. In his letter to State Attorney Mark Ober, Fernandez says Reading should be charged with multiple counts of battery and false imprisonment, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
``He would say, `Im trying to make you feel better, Blanco said. ``Id say, `This is not making me feel better. This makes me feel uncomfortable.
Delay In Investigations
Besides threatening Readings legacy, the Logan and Blanco allegations underscore persistent issues with the way physicians and other licensed health care professionals in Florida are policed.
Much of the responsibility rests with the state Department of Health. But in the Reading case, as in others The Tampa Tribune documented in a series of reports this year, the mechanism works poorly, if at all.
The initial recording and evaluation of complaints was handled by health department clerks with little or no legal training, the Tribune found. And the way complaints were processed varied widely.
The department also repeatedly failed to tell state attorneys about complaints that might rise to the level of a crime, although required to do so by state law. Communication between law enforcement agencies, the state attorneys offices and the health department was poor.
A report filed by the Tampa police detective who investigated Logans fondling accusations says she spoke with a supervisor at the health departments Consumer Services Unit about Logans case in April 2003. She asked Investigative Supervisor Robert Taylor whether Reading had previous complaints.
The response was no, Detective Lisa Martineaus report indicates.
Martineaus call should have triggered a Department of Health disciplinary investigation of Reading, according to the Consumer Services Unit training manual. The department is the chief regulatory agency over Floridas 30,000 medical doctors.
The department cant say whether Taylor recorded the allegations for investigation. Spokesman Doc Kokol said in an e-mail to the Tribune that, by law, the department can only acknowledge a complaint in which enough cause has been found to warrant administrative charges against a provider.
Taylor, who retired from the health department last year, could not be reached for comment.
USF reported Logans allegations to the health department in July 2003, spokesman Hoad said.
Logan said she made three complaints. The first she mailed to the health department a few months after the police were called, she said, and the second went out in July 2004. She didnt make copies of the complaints.
There was no response, she said.
In March, she sent a certified letter to Secretary of Health John Agwunobi complaining about her case. This time, there was a response, dated March 31, 2005.
``This matter will be analyzed by an investigator for determination of legal sufficiency, the letter says.
Accusations And Polygraphs
Logan told Martineau that Reading first fondled her on Feb. 12, 2003, as she was leaving his office after her initial visit.
``Ms. Logan was crying and upset, and Dr. Reading extended his arms and gave her a hug, Martineau wrote. ``As he put his arms around her torso, he brushed the sides of both her breasts with his open palms. She thought a therapist giving a patient a hug was a little odd, but figured he was just trying to console her.
Logan told Martineau, and later the Tribune, that although she felt uncomfortable, she was confused by Readings actions and returned to see him about three weeks later. The groping during a departing hug happened again, she said, but this time Reading fondled one of her breasts, saying, ``See, youre not as unattractive as you think you are.
Logan fled to the parking lot, where she made several calls for help, among them calls to her former therapist and her roommate. Her roommate summoned police.
As Martineaus investigation moved ahead, Logan passed a polygraph test, the police report shows.
Reading failed a polygraph test, a police polygraphers report shows.
In the routine interview before the test, the polygraphers report says, Reading said he might have touched Logans breast unintentionally, but he didnt remember doing so and was almost certain he hadnt.
Reading remembered telling Logan she was attractive, the polygrapher wrote, but said he meant to build self-esteem.
Martineau referred the case to the state attorneys office on April 10, 2003, five weeks after getting it, the file shows.
It hit a dead end. State Attorney Ober sent Logan a letter 3 1/2 months later, dated July 28, 2003, saying no criminal charges would be filed against Reading.
Obers chief assistant, Karen Stanley, recommended dropping the case, she told the Tribune, because it was Logans word against Readings and there were no witnesses. The polygraph results meant little because they are generally considered inadmissible evidence in court and cant be used in health department disciplinary actions.
Logan thinks the system failed her.
The matter may not end there.
In light of Blancos allegations, the state attorneys office may reconsider prosecuting Logans case, Stanley said. Thats allowed when the facts in two cases are similar.
Reporting The Case
Blanco, who saw Reading 28 times over 15 months ending in December 2003, disclosed Readings alleged abuse after Reading retired and she began seeing a replacement therapist at USF, John Zak, university records show.
Blanco said she was ``having nightmares that her prior therapist [Reading] is after her, Zak wrote in notes dated April 19, 2004. The notes were provided to the Tribune by Blancos attorney.
Zak noted that Blanco spoke of a phone message Reading left for her on April 8, 2004, more than three months after his retirement. Blanco said Reading called again in September asking how she was doing. She didnt return either call.
Blancos fear of reporting her psychiatrists misbehavior, Zak theorized in his notes, stemmed from being abused as a child by a siblings friend and witnessing a relative abuse another person. In the first case, she didnt want to get the sibling in trouble, Zak noted. In the second, she feared what punishment the relative would suffer.
Zak also wrote of telling Blanco he was required by law to report her assertions to the health department. ``I informed her... that I had met with legal counsel to see how I should proceed with reporting the alleged abuse, he wrote.
Friedlander, USFs general counsel, said the university fulfilled its reporting requirement in the Blanco case.
Citing privacy issues, the health department wont say what it is doing about Logan and Blancos assertions.
The women cant sue Reading personally because he treated them when he was a state employee, which shields him from personal liability under Floridas "sovereign immunity law.
So, any lawsuits would be filed against the universitys Board of Trustees, alleging it failed to provide proper medical care and adequate supervision of Reading. Settlements in these cases are capped at $100,000 per victim.
As the cases move through the legal system, the university says its overriding concern is for its patients.
"In any situation where theres a harmful event for someone in therapy, said Francisco Fernandez, who succeeded Reading as chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine last year, ``were going to have to... ultimately find out what happened
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